


Hell Above Us

by CrowKing



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: Angst, Break Up, F/M, One Shot, Sad One Shot, just plain old bad angst, post-Romeo and Juliet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 17:25:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14698899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrowKing/pseuds/CrowKing
Summary: You are in love with Benvolio Montague, a surviving member of a dying family. Since the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, Verona has been a wasteland of violence and crime. Both of had planned to run away together to finally rid yourselves of this Hell. That is, until, one day Benvolio comes to you with ill words.Written as a Gender Neutral Reader., how do you convince Benvolio to leave with you?





	Hell Above Us

“You deserve more,” Benvolio told me. He couldn’t look at me in the eye. He gulped right after he said it. “You deserve to be with someone more worthy than me.”

“That’s not true,” I shook my head. “You are worthy. You are worthy because I love you.” Benvolio sniffed, holding back tears. It had been harder and harder since they died. Verona had fallen into pieces. Families and friends had turned into quick rivals, and the nobility had done everything they could. They hid their grand houses and closed their eyes to not see the horror that took place. 

“Don’t say something like that,” Benvolio continued. “You shouldn’t love me.”

“Do you think yourself as a miserable fool?” I asked him. “I suffer just as you do. Juliet was my cousin too. She was a light just as Romeo was the stars to you.” 

“Don’t bring them up,” he quickly snapped. 

“Then what do you wish? What do you want?” I asked him.

“Leave Verona without me. Forget this Hell. Forget me.” I shook my head at him, angry at his suggestion.

“You said we would go together. You said we would leave tonight. And now you don’t want to leave?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“Then what do you mean? Why are you pulling out now?” I asked him. My stomach turned. I reached for his hand, but he pulled away from me. “Why has your heart changed?” 

Benvolio walked towards the balcony window. We both watched two young men steal and beat an old drunken man. They took off with a small sack of coins while the older man slunk over on the street. We could see blood coming from the top of his head. 

“It has not. Verona is no place for the good-hearted or the kind. This beauty has turned ugly in one night. It reeks with the stench of blood and no one is safe here. This is why you should leave.”

“Without you?”

“Without me.”

“No. I won’t,” I told him. Benvolio stared off into space. I don’t think he was listening to a word I was saying. Ever since their deaths, Benvolio has not known sleep. They had become strangers who only meet eyes once in a while. He had been more distant than usual in the past few days than he had been in weeks.

“Yes, you will,” he argued. His eyes glared at me. “You will leave tonight without me.”

“Why? Why not come with me? What would be the point of leaving here without you? We were supposed to leave here together.”

“I know. I can’t go with you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I have to stay here,” Benvolio couldn’t meet my eyes. His hand hovered over the hilt of his sword. It was Romeo’s, but his Uncle gave it to him after they had buried him. The sapphires were polished and the silver shone brighter than it had before.

“No, you don’t. What’s going on? What aren’t you telling me?” I closed in the space between me and him. My hands held onto his shoulders. I tried searching his eyes for some kind of answer, but he wouldn’t look at me. “What’s wrong?”

Benvolio shook his head. “It’s nothing. It’s too complicated.”

“Tell me, please,” I said softly. “Are you in trouble?”

“No,” Benvolio answered.

“Then what?”

A silence took hold over both of us. Most silences between lovers would be comfortable, blissful even. Not this one. I felt a discomfort from his distance. Each second it lasted, the more my stomach turned and hurt. I held back my own tears. I couldn’t cry in front of him. My heart was breaking, and he only looked to the window without a care.

“It’s your Uncle, isn’t it?”

“Don’t go there,” Benvolio glared again. He was so soft. He was my laughter, but his Uncle had made that boy disappear.

“Did he find out about us? What is it?”

“It’s nothing!”

“Tell me!” I shouted.

“No!” he shouted back. 

“Tell me!” I shouted louder. I could hear my echo in the room. Benvolio took my hands and held them. I watched him blink back tears. He looked to my shaking hands. He took a deep breath.

“There comes a time when one must choose between what is easy and what is right,” he started. “Running with you is easy, but I must stay here. My place is Verona.”

“Those are your Uncle’s words,” I snapped. “You need to come with me. You need to get away from him. He’s going to kill you.”

“He’s my only family I have left.”

“Am I not your family? Do you not love me?” I screamed. My hot tears came down my face. Benvolio only stood there watching me. He let go of my hands, and looked in my eyes.

“You are not my family. I do not love you,” he said to me. I felt my world ending around me. It felt like a punch in my gut or the sound of glass breaking. I fell to my knees. This must be some nightmare. This must be some kind of Hell I was punished to and I died long ago. My laughter, my sun, my love started to walk away from me. I grabbed his ankle and held onto it tight.

“Don’t go. Please don’t leave me,” I pleaded. 

“You’re leaving tonight. You need to pack. The Friar will be waiting for you at midnight,” Benvolio instructed. His cold tone gave me chills down my back. Why was he speaking to me like this? I didn’t understand. “Let go of me.”

“No I won’t. Please. I love you.”

Benvolio looked down on me. What once was my joy has now turned into an empty person. His anger towards me showed as he kicked my hands away. My hand stung while I watched him walk away from me for the last time. I kept watching him. He would look back at me. He had to. 

Benvolio only kept walking away until I couldn’t see him anymore.

Somewhere deep under Verona, Lord Montague stood and waited at an entrance. Night had covered Verona like a comforting blanket. Torches lit the corridor. Lord Montague turned towards the sound of footsteps to see his nephew, Benvolio.

“Did you do it?” his deep voice asked.

“Yes, they’re gone,” Benvolio gulped. “I broke their heart, and made them leave. Just as you told me, Uncle.”

“Very good,” Lord Montague’s arm snaked around his nephew as he guided him deeper underneath Verona. They heard droplets of water dripping from above them. Rats scurried along the sides of this place. 

Lord Montague looked to his nephew. Benvolio’s eyes had been red from crying, but the dark circles under them stuck out like a sore thumb.

“You have been crying?”

“No, Uncle,” Benvolio lied. A hand struck the back of his head.

“Do not lie to me,” the lord said. His hand itching to hit him again. His nephew had been so weak. So distracted on the true goal. Not anymore. “Stop crying. Your love is gone. Your purpose is here.”

They reached a large opening. Water had trickled down the sides of the stone. Benvolio smelled fecal matter both animal and human. It wrinkled his nose and he continued forward. Hooded figures formed a large circle. Each of them hummed in low tones. In the middle of their circle an unholy sigil was drawn.

Lord Montague put his hands on his nephew’s shoulders. “Your time is now.”

Benvolio’s eyes went wide at the sigil. His hands started to shake, and the only person who could calm him was gone, disappeared from this Hell. 

“You chose family, did you not?” the lord asked. “Your duty is to your family.”

“My duty is to my family,” Benvolio repeated as if he said it several times before. The gentle boy had been stripped away. The hooded figures started to chant in tongues. Benvolio entered the circle. Step by step, he repeated the mantra.

“My duty is to my family.”

Benvolio stepped into the center of the sigil and turned back to his Uncle. Lord Montague smiled wickedly. Benvolio looked up to the dark ceiling made of stone. He could feel something coming. Something was calling out to him. This was not God. 

“My duty is to my family,” Benvolio repeated again, his voice shaking. He closed his eyes, praying to himself that this would go away. The hooded members chanted louder. Lord Montague looked on, seeing his plan was working. The ground shook slightly while water had stopped dripping from the walls. The temperature rose so much that the hooded members started to sweat. Benvolio’s neck cracked, and then it hall came to a stop.

Lord Montague walked towards his nephew. His nephew opened his eyes. Instead of one pupil in each eye, there was now two. 

“What is your purpose?” he asked. Benvolio blinked and answered.

“To obey.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can read more of my works at [ owkingwrites.tumblr.com ]


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